Brightkite: Give it a try, or go fly one?

Filed under: Internet, Web services, web 2.0

Brightkite: Give it a try, or go fly one?

by Drew Olanoff May 21st 2008

You've used Twitter and Dodgeball, but have you tried Brightkite? It's the latest and greatest location-centric web app to come to our attention.

What does it do that the others don't you ask? Good question. Right at login, you're prompted with the question "What's Happening?" Sound familiar?

All kidding aside though, they are geographic centric and allow you to check in from wherever you are in the world. By simply typing in an address or searching for a business, you can immediately let all of your friends (and the world if you choose) know exactly where you are. On the flip side, you can see where your friends are and with an SMS shortcode, "join them" automagically.

Brightkite is attempting to do what others have failed at. That being the ability to get people to use their site consistently, update their location, and be absolutely fine with the world knowing where they are and not just what they're doing.

Here are some of Brightkite's features:

"Brightkite Universe" which is basically Twitter, except you can post photos.
"Visited Places" which archives all of the places you've actually remembered to update from
"Placemarks" which is actually a pretty nice feature that lets you bookmark places you may visit often or would like to visit
Mobile features that let you get pinged whenever your buddy goes to the Wal-mart.

The interface is slick, you have to give them that. The catch? It's invite only at the moment.

Would you share your geographical location with the world on a consistent basis? Tell us some cool places you'd update from in the comments and we'll give away 5 Brightkite invites to the most interesting places!

Tags: brightkite, location, twitter

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

haveboard said 11:26AM on 5-21-2008

I wish brightkite would work directly with googlemaps on my BB (or anyone's iPhone), to make it easier to hit a few buttons to update, vs typing in a complete address.

Drew Olanoff said 11:29AM on 5-21-2008

That's the tough thing with mobile technology, is that even though the iPhone is the current hot, a lot of people use BB's and other not so "smart" phones. It's a niche crowd right now, and you run the risk of turning some folks off.

Todd said 11:29AM on 5-21-2008

I have been using for a couple weeks.

Good: They use Oauth to connect to my Fire Eagle account.

Bad: Default settings cause way to many SMS text messages to your phone, strongly recommend turning all those off.

Obsolescence watch: Android does everything Bright Kite does and then some, so yeah, it's pretty cool but I cannot see it surviving past first week of Android handset availability.

http://fireeagle.yahoo.net/
http://oauth.net/

Drew Olanoff said 11:32AM on 5-21-2008

OAUTH FTW!

Great great point about turning off alerts straight away. With "social" sites like this, the first thing you naturally do is add all of your friends. But man oh man, do you get hit immediately with Brightkite.

I will be keeping an eye out for Android stuff, I'm still on the fence until I see it in action.

Martin May said 11:48AM on 5-21-2008

Todd,

Concerning the notifications, we've introduced some more conservative default settings (e.g. no more friend requests via SMS).

With regards to Android, we already have an app in the works that will run on the Android platform, as well as a native iPhone app. "Checking in" will be as easy as pushing a button.

Regards,
Martin
Founder, brightkite.com

Drew Olanoff said 11:51AM on 5-21-2008

Martin, please keep me in the loop on the things you're cranking away at. I'd love to get hands on and we'll keep our readers updated.

Thanks for jumping in!

Tom said 4:15PM on 5-21-2008

I thought brightkite and fire eagle offered the same service and were basically in competition? I've so far gotten invites to neither, even though I've been in the waiting list for both for a while. Very annoying.

They tell you who to properly beg for an invite, and then those people don't respond :-/

Todd said 12:08PM on 5-21-2008

Hmmm...In order to have BriteKite function as an Android app it needs to do much more than "one click update my location" ( Android does that by default ). BriteKite must play nice with Android's heavy integration with maps at the minimum. If I get a SMS from BriteKite to my Android phone, I would want just Google map to appear and show push pins for the location of the BriteKite friend and myself then a "one click" directions to get to them. Please don't make me open the browser, go to BriteKite, sign in, pour through activities, etc. KTHXBAI

giggity said 12:27PM on 5-21-2008

Places I'd update from?
- Restaurants
- Hiking
- LOLCAT moments
- NYC
- Beach
- Bathroom
- Car

James said 1:26PM on 5-21-2008

places i'd update from,
different stations when i'm on the train
my bed
the beach
up a mountain (if i get a signal that is!)
when i run events for scouts
going out of a night
when i go on holiday

ha3rvey said 2:18PM on 5-21-2008

I would probably post constantly to a service like this. I'm interviewing for a new job with about 50% travel, and it'll be a great way to let my family and friends know where I am. (within reason :)

I have monstrous list of places I'd like to visit, but I'll narrow it down to: a return trip to NYC with a decent camera, Red Rocks/Garden of the Gods, San Francisco, Chicago, a return trip to Boston, and any place warm and tropical.

earthpilot said 2:43PM on 5-21-2008

I could let my family and friends know where I am.
Or let them discover new places I visit.

Thanks

Drew Olanoff said 2:44PM on 5-21-2008

you folks rule, those are some great uses for a service like this. we're sending out invites and if you don't get one this time around, no worries we'll get more!

Tom said 4:17PM on 5-21-2008

I'd work on a brightkite app for the iPhone.

And I'd update from Busch Gardens, perhaps posting info on line length. Maybe other places with lines too, but I don't think BrightKite really has a "delay alert" functionality.

Tom said 9:23PM on 5-21-2008

Wow, it doesn't tell you who sent the invite. But since it went to the e-mail I use mainly for comments on Weblogs, Inc. blogs, I'm guessing it was Drew. Thanks, Drew!

Drew Olanoff said 9:25PM on 5-21-2008

Darn, it's like secret santa, but you caught us!

Can't wait to see your updates from Busch Gardens.

Tom said 10:06PM on 5-21-2008

Really? That's not too exciting, AND I don't have you on my friends list. But I do have a Busch Gardens season pass, and I use uPoze to upload pics to flickr automatically from my iPhone as it is.

Insomnic said 5:34PM on 5-21-2008

Yeah... mobile web support would be nice. I don't bother with SMS (use twitterberry for twitter updates) and when I try to check in via the web site on my Blackberry it crashes my browser hard. After to clear cache and pull battery to get it back (some sites do this to the BB browser). I've stopped using it because of this.

Liana Lehua said 6:01PM on 5-21-2008

I've been using Brightkite for two weeks, and I love the location-based features. However, I am really diggin' the "trusted" friends feature. I travel a lot, I'm a petite woman, and so my family worries about me being safe. I have made my family members "trusted" friends so they can see my exact whereabouts while everyone else just sees a locale.

If I could get a signal, I would post from: Playa Negra (Costa Rica), Sunset Beach (Oahu), 22nd Street (Newport Beach), Mavericks (Half Moon Bay), Bondi (Australia). :)

Drew Olanoff said 6:56PM on 5-21-2008

Trusted friend, nice point. That is sweet, but not definable unfortunately. I'd like some Facebook level security on that kinda stuff.

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